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Manhattan DA Cy Vance has enacted numerous progressive initiatives and reforms that reduce unnecessary incarceration and end the criminal prosecution of thousands of low-level, nonviolent offenses annually. With this approach, DA Vance is reducing the long-term negative impacts an arrest and criminal record can have, particularly on communities of color, because these programs allow individuals to stay in school, stay employed, and engage productively in their communities.

“Today, our nation faces new public safety challenges, including an increase in opioid abuse, an uptick in homicides in some cities and strained police-community relations,” a group of police chiefs and prosecutors, including Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the district attorney in Manhattan, wrote in a letter to Mr. Trump and Mr. Sessions.

The first principle is that district attorneys are not like regular lawyers. Instead, DAs have a special obligation to see that justice is done — which means that a DA may be successful in handling a matter even if he never files charges, or if he loses at trial.

To paraphrase a former Justice Department official: The government wins its case when justice is done. Sometimes, this means not filing charges; it’s not only OK to do so, it’s expected

Unlike other public officers, prosecutors are often not able to explain their actions — no matter how much we might want to, and no matter how loudly our constituents demand that we do. This is especially so in grand jury investigations, which are required by law to remain secret. That’s why I’ve asked an independent group to help us radically reduce the appearance of influence of money in our work. It's why I've asked the folks at CAPI to look at other jurisdictions around the country and the world, and recommend any steps that we can take, on our own accord, to raise New Yorkers’ confidence that money and power are meaningless before the law.

As Manhattan’s district attorney, it is my responsibility to make our criminal justice system fairer, more efficient and more effective for all. And if we are going to build a more just system, we must begin by safely reducing unnecessary contact with the criminal justice system. Each new initiative contemplated by my office is scrutinized through that lens, and if a past policy inhibits that goal or contributes to an injustice, we have a duty to reform it.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced that his office is changing its plea guidelines for marijuana arrests to lighten penalties for first- and second-time offenders, effective Tuesday. The new approach is expected to help some immigrants avoid penalties that could lead to deportation and comes amid backlash from municipalities and states over President Donald Trump's immigration policies — specifically the use of courts to identify and deport undocumented immigrants. Vance announced that his office is also working on a policy, to be implemented in the spring, to end prosecutions for low-level drug possession.

“Today’s announcement by the Trump Administration to remove protection from deportation for young people brought into this country by their parents is a dark moment in our history. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers will be directly impacted by the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, and the potential removal of law-abiding, tax-paying, and hardworking individuals from schools, jobs, communities, and entire industries will have a ripple effect far beyond that circle.

New York's turnaround on violent crime has improved the lives of all New Yorkers. In 1990, there were more than 2,000 murders in our city. Last year, there were 335. I'm proud to say that New York remains the safest big city in the nation, at least according to the Economist's Safe Cities Index. But this progress could come to a screeching halt if the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, known as CCRA, passes Congress.